Mainstone Relishes Open Water Camp

WAIS athlete and reigning Australian 10km Marathon Champion Rhys Mainstone (City of Perth) is looking to wrap up the final phase of his preparations ahead of the National Open Water Swimming Championships in two weeks time with one final session alongside World Champion Valerio Cleri and ten of his Italian teammates in Perth.

Mainstone and WAIS Coach Matt Magee have joined forces with arguably the world’s best open water swim team in an effort to inject a world-class finale to their final preparations ahead of Nationals.

“It has been a beneficial arrangement for both parties I believe. The athletes have had the opportunity to hone their skills, learn from one another and build relationships, while the coaches have shared a few thoughts and ideas also,” said Magee.

Aside from Cleri, the star-studded Italian Open Water Team of eleven swimmers and six staff included female ace Martini Grimaldi and young guns Gianlorenzo Parmiggiani and Nicola Bolzanello.

The team arrived in Perth at the end of January in an attempt to avoid a bleak and unrelenting European winter and have taken full advantage of the perfect West Australian weather on this, their first training camp for the year.

Mainstone along with City of Perth teammates Jason Evans and Simon Huitenga have relished in the opportunity to mix it up with athletes of such calibre. “We’ve had a tough few sessions but it has been good. It’s been good to go head to head with these boys and get a measure of where we are at. I think we are all pretty happy with our preparations heading into Trials” Explained Evans.

The Italians will remain in Perth until Tuesday before jetting back to Rome while all eyes will be focussed on Penrith and the Australian Open Water Championships on March 5-6.